It’s time for New Year’s Goals already? Where did the year go? I can’t believe 2024 has come and gone. Time has been such a blur, probably because I’ve been running like crazy trying to keep up with my kids.

I’ve got a few posts under my belt for the year, but already I feel like I won’t be able to keep up with my blogging as much as I would like. I’m doing my best, but I write best when I have a consistent schedule. And my little boy is anything but consistent these days.

Still, I’m gonna do my best to make this year a good one. It’s time to party. Let’s Jive, 2025. I’m going to get my groove on.

What Happened in 2024?

I’m all about baby steps. (Yes, pun intended – my boy is pretty much walking now). Because progress is slow for me, I like to take a look at my year and see how much I’ve grown. Knowing where I started helps me know what direction to take and where I should make some changes to make my upcoming year even better.

Last year wasn’t exactly a treasure-trove of big things but rather the accumulation of small things. I watched my baby’s first giggles. I praised him for rolling over and for trying new foods. I avidly followed every wobbly footstep as he cruised around on the furniture.

But here are a few things of note that I’d love to share with you.

I Made (and Sold) My First Hat

When my baby was a newborn, he ate almost every hour on the hour and napped for thirty minutes in between. Also, he only contact napped in my arms, so I was stuck on the couch for hours at a time. During those few months, I had the option to doom scroll constantly or knit.

I chose to knit.

I found myself enjoying it quite a bit. Although I didn’t have a lot of experience with my loom, I did design a Fair Isle inspired beanie. I took pictures as I made the hat and used those photos to write a tutorial so others could make the hat, too. When I was all done with my hat, I listed it for sale on Etsy.

I didn’t exactly have high hopes. My Etsy store isn’t exactly a big money-making venture. I’ve had necklaces sit in my shop for months without a buyer. But my hat sold – and I hope whomever purchased my hat found it soft, snuggly, and pretty.

I Built a Strawberry Planter

My little backyard garden has been a regular topic for me on my blog. Year after year, I try my best to plant something and see if it will grow. Tomatoes have seen some success in my greenhouse, and I’ve had strawberry plants come back, too.

Since my strawberries filled up my first planter, I built a second strawberry planter. I’m not much of a handy person, so I felt pretty proud of myself for screwing together the different pieces and it more or less held together. I transferred two strawberry plants from my original planter to the new one. I’ll give you an update later to see if they made it through the winter and start to “Jive, 2025.”

I Bought an Air Fryer

Okay, so this isn’t exactly a new thing or a big thing. Back in 2020, we purchased a really cheap air fryer just to see how it worked. We didn’t have any idea how to use it. We didn’t have any good recipes. We just kind of played around with it and occasionally cooked some frozen chicken nuggets in it.

Eventually, the numbers on the timer wore away. We could barely read the temperature – we needed to get rid of it. Fortunately, Costco had a sale on a Gourmia Air Fryer. It was much bigger, had digital settings, and had a few extra fun features like a dehydrator and a keep warm setting.

Over the last few months, I’ve accumulated several Air Fryer recipes that I plan to share with you lovely people this year. I’m excited about them because they’re so much easier and faster to make than their oven-baked counterparts.

What Am I Planning for This Year?

With my son being more mobile and more demanding, I have to face the facts that I just won’t have nearly as much time to blog as I used to. I understand that this is just a temporary phase in my life, but it’s a little bit frustrating nonetheless. I love baking. I love taking photos. I love being creative and sharing what I learn. But those things will have to wait – I have a baby to look after and he’s far more important to me.

So my plans this year are much smaller.

I Still Haven’t Finished My Blanket

Remember the loom-knit blanket I started a while back? Yeah, I’m still plugging away at it. It’s just so much bigger and time consuming than I anticipated. It’s currently about 2 and a half feet long and 5 feet wide. I want to make it big enough for my 6 foot 4 inch husband to snuggle in, so I have a ways to go before I finish it.

Based on my current schedule, I probably won’t finish it this year. My goal this year isn’t to finish it – my goal is to keep working on it. It’s kind of weird to think that my goal won’t be something I can check off my to-do list.

I Still Haven’t Made an e-Book

As with my loom-knit blanket, I’m still working on my e-Book. I have lots of fun bread recipes that I want to share on my BreadBytheHour.com site that I eventually want to work into a book. I have a few documents assembled and I’m trying to figure out how Amazon Kindle Publishing works.

My goal this year is to keep plugging away at it. I know I’ll get there eventually. It’s just tough for me to wait and leave things undone.

I Want to Better My Health

Okay, this particular goal has been ongoing for decades. Now that I’ve had more than a year to recover after having my baby, I’m ready to regain some lost muscle and get back in the habit of eating healthier foods.

I need to set aside time for regular exercise so I can be a good example for my daughter and so I can keep up with my very fast toddler of a son. My plan this year is going to be straightforward: go for more walks, lift some weights, and eat a variety of healthy foods.

That’s it.

In the past, I set specific calorie goals, miles to walk, lifts to weight, etc. But it gets too complicated and I give up quickly. This year, I just need to ease back into it. I’ll have time to perfect the process later.

Are You Ready for Another Year?

This year started out a bit rough. There’s a lot of scary stuff going on politically that I don’t even want to touch this year. But I remain optimistic. I want to make this year a good one, and I have a lot to look forward to.

What about you? Are you ready to tackle another year together? Feel free to share your goals for this year in the comment section below.